Bird-house.



E. HVBARNEY.

BIRD HOUSE' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15.1909.

968,523. I Paiented Aug. 30,1910.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR,

ATTORNEKS EVERETT H; BARNEY, 0F SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

BIRD-HOUSE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

Application filed November 15, 1909. Serial N 0. 527,978.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EVERETT H. BARNEY, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bird-Houses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in bird-houses or shelters and to clearly understand the nature of the invention, it should be said in explanation thereof that certain species of birds, which it is desired to encourage at the nesting season in localities where they have been practically driven out, or much reduced in numbers on account of the prevalence of the pugnacious English sparrow, must be protected against the latter. Wherever a bird-house is put up withing the settled communities it will always be occupied by the sparrows which, as they are not migratory are always on hand to occupy any shelter which may be provided. It has been observed, however, that if one or two sparrows are destroyed on the spot where they have decided to build, they will abandon that locality for that season. Taking advantage of these conditions, the present bird-house has been built and provided with means, actuated from a more or less distant point, to destroy the sparrows, all as hereinafter fully described.

Owing to the fact, as stated, that the sparrows nest earlier than the returning migra tory birds, or most of them, they can be made to abandon the shelter which they have selected in time to leave it ready for occupancy of the migratory birds, and once occupied by the latter they remain in undisputed possession for the rest of the season for the reason that the sparrows inhabiting the locality in which these bird-houses have been put up and in which several of their number have been killed, are fearful of again occupying or approaching too closely these spots which they have come to regard as dangerous to them.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,-Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a bird-house embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the end of the house taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectionalview on line 33, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the house proper may be of any shape or dimensions,

but is shown here as of rectangular form provided with front and rear walls a and b, and side walls d, the roof being indicated by f. Preferably, one-half of the bottom of the box is closed by a fixed board 9, the other half consisting of a swinging portion it hinged at 70, whereby it may be allowed to swing down to vertical position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, a button or other suitable device m being provided to lock the swinging section it in closed position. This swinging motion of the bottom of the house is to permit it to be opened during the winter months to prevent the accumulation of snow therein which might blow in through the entrance opening 0, which is preferably located about in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that is at a sufficient distance above the floor or bottom of the box to leave room for the building of the nest.

To the front of the house is secured a block p, the upper end 9 of which is of sufficient area to furnish'a resting place for the bird, though this is an unimportant detail, the principal function of the block being to constitute a closure for a groove or channel r (see Fig. in which is located a plunger 8, part of this channel being in the front wall of the house, and another part thereof in the block 17. In the upper end of the plunger 8 is a spear 25, there being a narrow channel 12 extending axially of the channel in which the plunger 8 moves, for the reception of this spear, and to permit the latter to move freely up and down, this channel is located perpendicularly below the axis of the opening 0. Means are provided to quickly shoot the plunger 8 upward, causing the spear t to traverse the opening 0. Suitable means for effecting this movement are provided in a cord to running over a pulley a, and being fastened beyond said pulley to the lower end of the plunger which extends beyond the bottom of the house, the other end of the cord extending from the plunger to any point from which it may be desired to actuate the plunger. The cord for this purpose is run through screw-eyes attached to the tree or building, but not shown herein. It will be seen that by thus pulling on the cord to attached to one side of the plunger, as for example that which runs over the pulley w, the plunger may be raised, and by pulling on the other end of the cord the plunger may be retracted, these two positions being shown respectively in Figs, 1 and 2. When the plunger is shot upwardly, its upper end comes in contact with the end of the channel 9", which will limit its throw in that direction. To limit its movement in the opposite direction, a pin g may be secured in the plunger, as shown in F 1 and 3, and another pin 3 may be driven through the block 29 in the path of movement of the pin 11 both of these pins being located shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 3, in a hole l parallel with, and just cutting the channel 1" in which the plunger 8 is seated.

During the nesting season of the sparrows, it has been observed that while the female bird is on the nest, the male bird will occupy the entrance opening 0 of the house during a good part of the time and when he is in that position, if the cord w be pulled, the spear may be shot upward quickly and impale the bird, killing it instantly; and as soon as this has been effected, a pull on the other end of the cord will disengage the spear from the body of the bird allowing the latter to fall to the ground. As previously stated, when one or two birds have been killed in this way, the particular house at which the fatalities have occurred will be abandoned by the sparrows, at any rate for that season, and it may be occupied by the desirable migratory birds without molestation from the sparrows, the house thus serving as an aid to the propagation of the desirable migratory birds,

What I claim, is z 1. A bird-house consisting of a suitable structure adapted to contain a nest, said structure being provided with an entrance opening, a movable member comprising a spear, the path of whose movement is across said entrance opening, and means to move said member.

2. A birdhouse consisting of a suitable structure adapted to contain a nest, and provided with an entrance opening, there being a channel in the wall of the structure, and a spear in said channel, the path of movement of the spear being across said opening, and means to move said spear in opposite directions 3. A bird-house consisting of a suitable structure having an entrance opening, a member supported on the house and adapted to be moved across said opening to kill a bird occupying the opening, and means to efi'ect the actuation of said member from some point distant from said house.

EVERETT H. BARNEY.

\Vitnesses WM. H. CHAPIN, HARRY W. BOWEN. 

